"I'm so glad we had that storm last week because I think the storm was one of those things... No, politically I should say. Not in terms of hurting people. The storm brought in possibilities for good politics," he said.

The comments sparked a firestorm of criticism, especially from conservatives, The Huffington Post reported.

MSNBC addressed the remarks on Twitter, and Matthews issued an on-air apology Wednesday.

"It was a terrible thing to say, period," Matthews said, adding he had been "too deeply enmeshed in political thinking" to think about the storm's real life impact on people's lives.

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